their name and history and reputation. >> there is definitely a little bit of that. some of the elite schools will tell you they don't have those bread and butter classes. i just heard from a few elite schools that said they're actually working on this. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com in southern california right now, a scare about a possible cult suicide appears to have been a false alarm. a group of 13 salvadorian women and children are safe and sound right now. in fact, they were found praying in a public park in palm dale, unaware that police had been looking for them all night. th thelma, were they part of a cult

or not? >> reporter: well, don, there's a lot of questions about what they belong to. they belonged to a christian church, then they broke off from that. they say it wasn't a cult, but simply another prayer group. they were actually found right here, that group of 13. they were sit right here on the ground. they were in the midst of prayers. you can see their bibles right here on the grass. they were in the midst of prayer, when all of a sudden, they have sheriff's deputies roll up to them. the women told me in spanish that they were fine, they were completely unaware that anyone was looking for them. they were a little annoyed that all this attention was being given to them. apparently, it was initiated when their husbands went to authorities yesterday and were concerned they went off with this prayer group to this high

desert and maybe were in harm's way. >> i don't know if they were letters, they were written expl patriotical patriotically, some of the language could be interpreted as saying good-bye to relatives. when you couple that with the fact you can't call them, the fact that they're unaccounted for. and i said this earlier and the sheriff's department believes this. as all law enforcement does. it is better to overreact than underreact. >> reporter: in addition to the letters, the women left behind cell phones and personal belongings and that gave authorities reason to be a little concerned, but they say that group leader is now being questioned by authorities and she's also under psychological

evaluation because they say that she did appear to be confused, but i should emphasize that they say no crime has been committed and no one has been charged with a crime. >> and everyone is safe and sound. thank you. we want to get back now to american soil and this young lady is back on american soil after more than a year in an iranian prison. sarah shourd today touched down. she was let go after she reportedly found a lump in her breast, but now, she says doctors in ohman told her she is physically well. she was one of three who were detained in july of 2009. today, she thanked iran for letting her go, but called on the country to release her fiance and their friend. shourd's arrival comes as president ahminedjad is visiting new york. he's addressing the assembly

thursday when he is sure to brink up the u.n. sanctions on iran. in an interview, he talked about the release of shourd and said he would like to see some reciprocation from the u.s. >> true that the islamic republic of iran took a humanitarian measure and released one of the three individuals who entered our borders, miss sarah shourd. now, you may be aware that eight iranian are illegally being detained in the united states. so, i believe that it would not be misplaced to ask that the u.s. government should make a humanitarian gesture to release the iranian who were illegally arrested and detained here in the united states.

>> the hikers' families have asked for a meeting with ahminedjad while he was in new york, but no word on whether it will happen. hear more from ahminedjad on "larry king live." bp's oil well is officially dead. federal officials made the announcement before 7:00 this morning. pressure testing overnight confirmed the so-called bottom kill procedure add worked. had worked. oil stopped flowing two months ago, but it took until now to build another. you had the tea party express, this california-based group, come in at the last minute in the campaign, run a mud slinging, smear, just a terrible, terrible campaign. >> lies, fabrications and mischaracterization. lisa murkowski says that's how

joe miller defeated her. her exclusive interview and miller's reaction. don't just sit there. become part of the show. hi. you know, if we had let fedex office print our presentation, they could have shipped it too. saved ourselves the hassle. i'm not too sure about this. look at this. [ security agent ] right. you never kick off with sales figures. kicking off with sales figures! i'm yawning. i'm yawning some more. aaaaaaaand... [ snores ]

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the alaska senator who lost her primary bid to keep her seat is now claiming to be the victim of a smear campaign. lisa murkowski is launching a write-in campaign after losing to joe miller on tuesday. she's accusing the tea party express which backed her opponent of dirty tricks in an interview with candy crowly. >> doesn't it look like a sore

loser to launch this campaign? >> what happened in my experience, you had this california-based group come in, run a mud slinging, smear, just a terrible, terrible campaign with lies and fabrications, mischaracterization. they came in, they dumped $600,000 into a small market here in alaska. and they absolutely, clearly influenced the outcome of that election. >> the man who beat murkowski in the primary, joe miller, tells fox news that she's just not getting the message. >> she's not listening very well to the alaskan voters because this primary, we had the largest turnout of republican voters in the history of the state and they said resoundingly, well, 2,000 votes, that, in fact, the views we've expressed during this campaign are the views the future of the state needs to embrace. so i think really, she's just

got a real disconnection from reality in thinking that the voters of alaska are extreme. >> it's time right now for cnn equals politics update. we're keeping an eye on the latest headlines on the cnn political ticker. let's join mark preston, of course, from the best political team on television. mark, tell us what is crossing right now. >> you know, there's been a lot of talk about what is president obama's religion. of course, we know he's a christian or most of us know he's a christian. he attended church today. this is the first time he has attended church in about six months. the last time he was there was at easter. there's a church at lafayette park. he went there today with his wife and two daughters as well. you know, interestingly enough, don, there is this poll out. one in five people still think that president obama is a muslim.

so, clearly, he's not. he's a christian, you know. good christian today, going to church. i didn't go today. my wife did. moving on, christine o'donnell, the tea party favorite. guess what? she didn't appear on two national television shows today. she decided to skip those. said she wanted to campaign back home in delaware. well, she had some questions to answer, specifically about witchcraft. this is somebody who's made a name for herself in social conservative issues. in this newly unearthed video, she talks about how she went on a date with a witch and had a date on a satanic altar. you can read the story as well on cnn.com and our steve brusque is sitting here, tells me she answered the question today. she said, i was in high school. who didn't hang out with questionable people in high

school. well, i was probably one of those questionable people. i certainly wasn't a witch, but definitely interesting news today. and moving on, the republican end fighting was going to happen. the fact is, republicans are on such a surge. what direction is the republican party heading? the party of fiscal conservat e conservativ conservatives, morals or both. this past weekend, we had the values conference in d.c. a lot of people in the tea party movement have been stressing economic issues. this is all come tog a head. you just talked about how lisa murkowski feels. a lot going on. >> mark preston, tell steve we miss him here in atlanta. >> i shall. >> thank you, mark. that's mark preston from washington. for the latest political news, go to cnnpolitics.com.

hurricane igor bearing down on bermuda. reynolds wolf joins us from the center of the storm and jackie jeras will tell us where it's going, next. and turn-by-turn nn available in every model. so it must be hard for you to hear autoweek.com say our interior raises the small-car bar. if you want to talk about it, call me... that is you know when you get home... since you don't have bluetooth in every model. the all new chevrolet cruze. starting under $17,000. get used to more. ♪ ♪ we need to finish those projections ♪ ♪ then output the final presentations ♪ ♪ sally, i'm gonna need 40 copies, obviously collated ♪ what's going on? when we're crunched for time, brad combines office celebrations with official business. it's about efficiency. [ courier ] we can help. when you ship with fedex, you can work right up until the last minute. it gives you more time to get stuff done. that's a great idea. ♪ i need to speak with you privately ♪ ♪ i found your resume on the printer ♪

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oh, man, it could be a really long night for bermuda. it's getting pounded by hurricane igor right now and the huge storm hasn't even made landfall. many are in the dark with no power. reynolds wolf is at bermuda's elbow beach. what's going on, reynolds? >> reporter: well, the latest we've got -- now, thing is, this

storm is not nearly as strong as the one in 2003 that caused all kinds of damage, killing four people. this storm is actually a lot bigger. in terms of overall risk, it makes more -- and size. bermuda, a very, very small island -- incredible rainfall at times and waves that are unbelievable. to give you and the viewers across america a bit of a background -- elbow beach in the darkness. before sun down, i walked down there, very hard to stand at times.

rain and massive waves to the shoreline, right into the main structure here. it has been the story up and down the island. those waves not only brings problems, this goes a little further inland. there have been some evacuations. we've had about 60 people go to shelters in bermuda. power outages, don, as you mentioned, about half the population here of 67,000 right here is without power. the airports, closed. many of the roadways, closed. the main thoroughfare and causeways have been shut down. as jackie mentioned earlier, it's going continue to hammer this island tonight and tomorrow. by tomorrow, we should see it let up a little bit. >> stay safe and we'll get back to you. let's turn to jackie jeras, our

meteorologist in house. it was hard hearing him at times. translate. >> obviously. wind continuing to be a huge issue here. we've had about five hours where we've been receiving reports of hurricane force wind gusts. that's 74 miles per hour or more. the most recent report was at 67. we're in the height of this storm in terms of its impact on bermuda. it's going to last until after the midnight hour and then we'll watch for strong, tropical storm force winds to lash the island for much of the day tomorrow. there you can see this large storm. if you can compare it to the u.s. coastline, it almost fills up the entire coast. we are feeling it in the outer banks and in south carolina and florida's coastlines. so dangerous beach conditions will continue throughout the east coast until tomorrow. the storm is moving to the west

of bermuda now, but the winds extend so far out, 90 miles out, that's where they're getting beat up by a storm that's not even making landfall. it is expected to make a right hand turn, maybe within 30 miles even ov so before it starts to weaken. here, you can see the current radar. there's the biggest island and here you can see some of those outer bands are just on the threshold of coming through there, so conditions are going to get worse very shortly. >> thank you very much. police feared a mass suicide might be in the works. well, that turned out not to be the case, but it raises question about exactly what is cult-like behavior and when we should be alarmed about it. an expert joins me next. [ male announcer ] let's throw down some style.

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fears of an impending cult suicide turned out to be a false alarm. the 13 salvadorian women and

children who were reported missing were found safe and sound. we now know they were not missing, not part of a cult and had no intention of killing themselves, but as we saw from the initial police response, a hint of cult-like behavior sets off alarm bells in this county tru. it's a topic we wanted to discuss tonight with a cult expert who is the author of cults, faith, healing and coercion. was there any behavior from these women that was cult-like, do you believe? >> yes, i think there was and i think we can underestimate how certain behaver yors can evolve into very problematic, actual outcomes, so although these women apparently were not doing anything harmful, the very fact that evidence was found in these pocketbooks that they were going to rejoin their dead relatives

may well have meant that something more problematic was in the back minds of their leader at least. >> so do you think we're going to see something more coming out of this story, might investigators or authorities be looking into this particular group more? >> well, i think now that they've gotten this much publicity, much to their surprise, they may be very cautious, but i think there are groups like this all around in many respects. they come to different conclusio conclusions. most are relatively benign, but it's hard to predict how a group will react. >> how do we know that something is in fact a cult or not? some people would say that there are very popular religious groups which we don't have to name, that they have cult -- they have cult-like to their

organizations as well, so how exactly do we know what a cult is? >> i labeled my book "cults" because i thought it was understandable to people. a charismatic group, a group that is highly cohesive, everybody supports each other, has beliefs that can be positive or problematic. they vary so much that there are some that have historically that have been clearly been very dangerous. >> we've talked about, we know some of the ones, the heaven's gate, jim jones, all those sorts of cults, but one, you wonder what makes people become susceptible to these sorts of cults when there are other religious groups that aren't

considered cults where they can join and have tran sen dent qualities but don't live up to being a cult. >> they usually get involved with some kacharismatic person, person who claims they have some contact with the divine, some special message. then, it plays into the psychological needs of people who may be depressed. who may be displaced. troubled over some personal matters. and then, as they support each other, they become involved in the beliefs of the group and once they do, they will comply with whatever the group leader feels is most important. and that could be positive, but it could also be negative. >> that's the thing i was going to ask you because if anyone is just dropping in on this conversation, it may just sound

like you're talking about religion. often at the head of a church, you have a charismatic figure. it's usually positive to some extent. if i was just tuning in, it would sound to me that you could be talking about any religion that americans belong to. >> well, religions can be very zealous and can conform to this idea of a charismatic group and if they're deviant and people think they don't fit in or they isolate themselves, then they are cloak yal called cults. in actuality, people who are born again will come to some profound revelation that changes their lives, may be part of a mainstream revelation. >> have a great evening.

>> thank you. coming up here on cnn, we'll give you a rare look inside the hospital often referred to as the last hope and resort for many patients suffering from unsolved medical illnesses. >> physicians are not used to failing at the rate that i fail. or my team fails, too. >> we will show you what doctors are doing to solve the puzzle and defie the odds. the cnn cover story is next. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 what if every atm was free? tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more $2, $3 fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more paying to access your own money. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it'd be like every atm in the world was your atm. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the schwab bank high yield investor checking(tm) account. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 zero atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a great interest rate. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no minimums.

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it's a no brainer and i knew that from the start. it was an honor. booming is moving forward by giving back. this is the cnn cover story. you're looking at a place few have heard of. inside that building is a place of hope for a chosen few. their last hope. >> some of the patients you see here are some of the most mysterious in the country. nobody's been able to diagnose them. >> i heard it.

and i still question a strong dose of hope. >> a team of some of the best minds in medicine. >> were you a puzzle solver when you were younger? >> who are determined to fight the odds. >> we expect a failure. a high failure rate. we expect a success rate of 10, 15%. >> to break new ground and solve mysteries that no other doctors have solved, for the sake of science and their patients. >> tonight on the cnn cover story, dr. sanjay gupta and the "ac 360" team follow the doctor detectives. welcome to the "cnn cover story." everyone you're going to meet in the next half hour is working against the odds. every doctor, every patient, but not everybody you meet on this

cover story will let the odds dictate their next move. joining me tonight is dr. sanjay gupta. there are a lot of great people in the medical field who you could call doctor detectives, but this place where you spent so much time is different. tell us what is so striking about the undiagnosed disease t. >> i heard about this before i got a chance to go there. the scenario is this. you're a patient. you have some sort of medical malady. you hear the same thing. we just don't know. i really wanted to see how a place would start to put the various pieces of the puzzle together. where they would look, and ultimately, how often would they succeed. dr. william gal is the guy that runs this place. the way he approaches things is different. take a look. >> bethesda, maryland.

deep inside the complex, dr. gall leads an elite team of doctors and researchers. they are the best in the world. together, they focus their vast expertise to try to save patients' lives. they are detectives in search of clues to solve mysteries no other doctors could solve. >> you're talking about patient who have been seen by some of the best in the country. they're very good clinicians and diagnostic doctors everywhere. you're taking the hardest cases of all. >> we expect a high failure rate. we expect a success rate of 10, 15% or so. >> the program was launched only two years ago at nih. it accepts only the rarest of medical cases and it's not only about saving lives. here, they are also hoping to discover new diseases and create new science.

>> it's really sort of the inspiration we have. >> in two years, they have had more than 2,000 inquiries. more than 1,000 applications made it to dr. gall's desk. but udp has accepted a little over 300 patients. >> you have to tell a lot of people no. >> you do. >> seems like that would be hard. >> it is hard. it's very hard. i have to take some solace in the fact that even though we're turning down a lot of people, we're still helping a chosen few. >> so, sanjay, those three last words from dr. gall, the chosen few, really give you a sense of what's at stake. what needs to happen for a patient to make it through the doors? >> it's tough. because more patient rs turned away than accepted by a large number. the vast majority will never get into a program like this, but these are patients who have not

been able to figure out their problems. the stanfords, mayos, some of the best facilities in the country. through every patient, potentially these medical mysteries, there is an opportunity to advance science. to figure out something new about the entire field of medicine. that's what these guys are striving for. not just taking care of the patient. they want that, but they want to move medicine. sometimes in the face of a young girl or middle-aged mother, they get just that. >> she was born in may of 2004. the picture of a perfect baby girl. she developed like a preko shouse, healthy toddler. >> she was above average on

everything. >> then at three and a half, she was diagnosed with type i diabet diabetes. shortly after that, they noticed something wasn't right. it began with a voice tremor. then she had a seizure and by the time she turned four, her face started to twitch. the first day you sort of realized there was something not right with her because she was this child, zooming past all the milestones. because you're a parent now and trying to figure out is this just me being overly sensitive. >> i was told that. i was looking for things that weren't there. it's just really hard. >> we actually -- spent a lot of time videotaping her when we saw the little things that started happening because no one believed us. >> do you know when your birthday is?

good girl. >> the twitching spread down the entire right hand side of her body. her head began to tilt right. eating began a struggle. by then, doctors agreed something was wrong, but what was it? a mysterious force was also assaulting sally's body. her muscles were growing out of control. she was in excruciating pain. she was accepted to the program. >> i felt sort of if there wasn't a diagnosis, i was pretty certain that it would kill me. >> this is suh p per impressive. >> look at these things. >> you really see a cleavage in the middle of her back because those muscles are so big. >> first suspicious, sally looked like a steroid junkie, but wasn't. absolutely no evidence of that. >> i just turned off the feelings and i just couldn't -- it was really painful.

to look in the mirror. >> sally's husband, buddy. >> oh, it was scary. you just waiting to find out what's next. what normal, functional thing people have to do to get through the day was she not going to be able to do next. >> no one could offer an explanati explanation. the team of doctors at the program quickly ruled out one possibility. >> bottom line, it's -- just confined to the muscle, what in the world could this be? >> in your experience, what about the team makes them better able to answer the question? >> it's interesting. first of all, they're very good. no question. some of the best doctors anywhere in the world. that's one thing. second thing is sometimes, just laying a fresh set of eyes on a problem, you're at a hospital, one doctor says it. next agrees. third agrees. that's the diagnosis.

here, they say, well, wait a second. has anyone ever considered this? the third thing which really surprised me is that they're very good at accepting failure. that's not something you often hear in hospitals. it's really true here. >> all right. well, dr. gupta is going to stick around with us, so stay with us as the super team tries to figure out what is making kylie and sally so sick. you could switch for up to 600 highway miles on a single tank of gas. or the hundred-thousand mile powertrain warranty. over a thousand people a day are switching to chevy. they're not just trading in, they're trading up. qualified lessees can get low mileage lease on this 2011 malibu ls for around one ninety-nine a month. call for details. the switch to chevy starts at chevydealer.com.

down the hill? man: all right. we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ] whew! i think it's worth it. working with a partner you can trust is always a good decision. massmutual. let our financial professionals help you reach your goals. you know, if we had let fedex office print our presentation, they could have shipped it too. saved ourselves the hassle. i'm not too sure about this. look at this. [ security agent ] right. you never kick off with sales figures. kicking off with sales figures! i'm yawning. i'm yawning some more. aaaaaaaand... [ snores ] i see your point. yeah. [ snores ] [ male announcer ] we understand.® you need a partner who delivers convenience. next time use fedex office.

i'm friend, secret-keeper and playmate. do you think i'd let osteoporosis slow me down? so i asked my doctor about reclast because i heard it's the only once-a-year iv osteoporosis treatment. he told me all about it and i said that's the one for nana. he said reclast can help restrengthen my bones to help make them resistant to fracture for twelve months. and reclast is approved to help protect from fracture in many places: hip, spine, even other bones. [ male announcer ] you should not take reclast if you're on zometa,

have low blood calcium, kidney problems. or you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant or nursing. take calcium and vitamin d daily. tell your doctor if you develop severe muscle, bone or joint pain, of if you have dental problems, as rarely jaw problems have been reported. the most common side effects include flu like symptoms, fever, muscle or joint pain and headache. share the world with the ones you love! and ask your doctor about reclast. or call 1-866-51-reclast. year-long protection for on-the-go women. welcome back, everyone, to the cnn cover story, doctor detectiv detectives. dr. gupta will be shining the light on this amazing place called the undiagnosed diseases center all week long. >> patients really come from all over the world. it's a place of last resort.

i remember seeing that written on a wall when i was there. these patients, kylie and sally, traveled here for a week to get all these tests. all the obvious things, don, had been done. the obvious tests had been done. the obvious results had come back. what the doctors were looking for now for little clues, does someone behave the same when asleep as when they're awake. should we check the dna of relatives. just little clues that really add up. what they found goes a long way towards solving the mystery. >> kylie and her parents made their way from nevada in e hopes of finding out what in the world could be wrong with kylie. do you want to know what's wrong if the next sentence is, but there's nothing we can do about it? >> yeah. >> why? >> i think it would be nice to

have a prognosis. to know, i mean, even if it's not treatable, if it's terminal, how much time we have left. as opposed to not knowing. you know, it could all end tomorrow. >> kylie will undergo a weeklong series of tests by top medical specialists at nih. it's physically draining for everyone. and for kylie's mom and dad, emotionally wrenching. the week is intense. >> i don't think anybody's seen anything quite like kylie. it's a very complex case. >> dr. gall and his team look at everything for clues. >> something here is what -- that's a really important clue. >> very important.

>> her test began in early morning. >> beautiful. can i tell you something? you are all done. good job. >> and will go late into the night. >> say baby boy. >> it's hard. it's really hard. hopefully, it's for a good cause. >> in the hallways, specialists hold meetings on the fly, throwing out new theorys, hoping something they've learned fits into the puzzle in a single diagnos diagnosis. sally's mystery did not begin until later in life. at 53 years old, sally was physically ripped. but sally didn't lift weights. in fact, what was causing her body to bulk up uncontrol bli was taking away her ability to live life.

>> it was very frustrating. i was losing the ability to do the things i loved to do. it became increasingly difficult just to walk. at some point, i knew if it continued, it would kill me. >> she had seen countless medical specialists. no one had an explanation. that's why dr. william gall and his team was trying to solve the mystery. there were scans, bloodwork, an examination of everything going on inside sally's body. in five days, the tests are complete. sally is sent home to north carolina, but no diagnosis, not yet. they treat their patients like a crime scene. they collect all the evidence they can find, then try to make sense of it. >> we do like detective work, but a lot of the detective work takes place after the patients have gone. >> at midweek, 5-year-old kylie,

her body has only given up a few small clues, but the specialists are eliminating possible causes by finding what is working normally. >> it's the right side of her body that's affected, so you would expect to see changes on the left side. >> they are structurally normal. >> eeg shows kylie's brain is symmetrical, which is positive news. but there are spikes of activity. they could point to a rare brain disorder that affects the brain's motor strip. however, it would only explain the symptoms, not what's causing it. >> we don't really have a full understanding of the underlying mechanisms that brought it on. >> yeah. this will help it not hurt.

>> by friday, the tests are complete. >> maybe some day, we'll get that phone call, hey, we think we might know what it is. >> when the cover story returns, sanjay gupta will help us go behind the team and how he figures out how much hope he and his patients can have. nds nevert of things to talk about... and during endless shrimp at red lobster, you can keep the conversation going over endless servings of your favorite shrimp. from classics like garlic shrimp scampi and decadent shrimp pasta... to new creations, like crunchy parmesan shrimp. our best value of the year, endless reasons to get together. during endless shrimp, right now at red lobster. during endless shrimp, gothgeckt-shirt... "4 milon drirstched!". gecko water bottle... notebook... chamois... gecko: sir, i feel a little bit uncoorblwith all... you know.. ahis. mean, 's not about me.

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welcome back to the cnn cover story. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is taking us on a journey threw a place most people have never seen. the undiagnosed disease program at the national institutes of health which opens its doors to a selects few patients. so, sanjay, you spent a lot of time with the man in charge. >> first thing he told me is he's not dr. house. >> he's not that grumpy. >> he's not that grumpy. a lot of people expect that

because house is the person who solves medical mystery and they thought dr. gahl was going to be like him. he's not, he doesn't spend a lot of money on test, although he has them available to him. but he understands the value of hope. and a lot of patients come here who haven't had any hope in quite some time but he also has to balance that with failure. again, this idea that he's not going to be able to figure everything out. it's not a happy ending at the end of every single episode. so it's some of the most candid frank conversations he has to have with patients an me as well. >> for a lot of patients, as we were investigating this, really got the sense that this ends up being a place of last hope or last rae sort for them. because a lot of them have been to some of the best places around the country fshl, if not world. and now they've got it all hingingen on this place. that's a lot of pressure. >> it is. we try to be realistic about it. and get our patients to be realistic about the issue, too.

so the first day of a typical visit, i'll go in and tell the patients you know, you've been to the best places in the country. now you're coming here. we only have a 10% to 15% success rate so i don't want you to get your hopes up really, too, too, high, but on the other hand, we don't want to take all hope away. so we want to provide some of that hope. that is really one of the purposes of this program, too. so we say that at the end of the week, we'll tell you what we know and what we don't know, but it really won't be the end of our pursuit of your case because so many people shall have seen the characteristics of this illness and can be thinking about it in the future and reading the literature ton. so there really is a balance there. i think of this as in part like the dating services of the '80s where they call it lowered expectations. it's part of our job to make sure that expectation are appropriate, appropriately

lowered compared to what most of the patients come in with on mondays. >> did you have a dating experience in the '80s? >> until i met my wife. yeah, i didn't have much of a dating experience actually. >> this idea that so many of the patients that come here are, you're not going to figure it out. that's not television. people, whether it be a show like "house" or other medically based show, they expect that you're going to get the answer. >> that's right. >> are expectation pretty high? >> you're really addressing the issues of the patients and their expectations. i think another aspect of this is how the physician feel about this. in other words, physicians are not used to failing at the rate that i fail. or my team fail, too. it's a little bit difficult for us to reconcile our life's work with an 85% to 90% failure rate.

so three have to make sure that we're sort of bucked up and our nurse practitioners understand that. and that they retain hope for this patient or that patient in whom they've invested so much. >> when" the cover story" returns. >> i see a lot of movement in the right food. >> dr. nguyen that will bring us up to speed on the two cases he's following. ♪ for he's a jolly good fellow ♪ the meeting's tomorrow in dallas ♪

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what are your thoughts on hope and optimistic, spirituality, pra, all the things that you can't measure in a lab with a blood test or a scan? how much of a role does that stuff play in someone's overall recovery? >> there's no question it plays a huge role in people's recovery because it's their outlook on life. so people will feel better if they have a better outlook on life. we see that all the time with our undiagnosed disease patients. some of them will have relatively minor objective

findings and it controls their lives. they're almost literally paralyzed by this. they can't function properly. and others will have pretty serious problems. and just sort of like children who don't let things bother them too much. they'll have really serious problems an still be able to function normally by not thinking about those problems and by concentrating on their strengths. it's incredibly important. >> welcome back to the cnn cover story. so was next for the two patients you've been covering? >> so they go through this week long of test, it's invasive, cumbersome, some of the most extensive testing they've h but i learned people expect an answer at the end of the metropolitanization, that doesn't come here. now it's really a process for these guys and gals to get into a room, some of the smartest minds around and start poring